The Support Show #12 - How to: Flatten Your Wasteboard

[@austinfrasure6528]

There is a shifted forward position ?

[@carbide3d]

Indeed. Look at the Gantry shift on this page: carbide3d.com/blog/introducing-shapeoko-5-pro/

[@KarlBunker]

On the Shapeoko 4, the cutter can't reach all the way to the left, right or back of the spoilboard. I guess the (imperfect) solution would be surface once, and then swap all the MDF slats front-to-back, swap the ones at the left & right into the middle, and then surface again?

[@tornadokat]

The first time I surfaced the boards on my 4 XXL, I traded the left and right most slats for the the respective ones next to them and moved them all up one screw hole to finish surfacing. The idea was to keep everything as close to its final resting place as possible since variations in the table would usually start gradual and become more pronounced as you move further away from a particular edge.

[@smorgasbord42]

Being somewhat OCD, I wanted to make sure those cutter-inaccessible areas were not higher than the surfaced spoilboard, so I removed the slats and cut them on edge on my tablesaw to be slighty thinner. I would not want to surface the spoilboard with slats not in the actual final position as that defeats the whole purpose of flattening in place.

[@KarlBunker]

@@tornadokat Yeah, I didn't think of moving the slats up one screw hole.

[@tornadokat]

@@smorgasbord42 This works great! I did this for the second time I surfaced mine.

[@carbide3d]

Hey guys, Yes, surfacing was an issue and that’s why the S5 is designed the way it is. With your machines you have the option to shorten and narrow the wasteboard slats to keep them inside the machinable area. This was my best plan when we were running the S4 Pro full time. - Kevin

[@ntrumpdeplorable7781]

Has your software creators considered adding a offset or raster option to Carbide Create Pro?

[@carbide3d]

Offset we have, raster has been discussed.

[@user_16309]

Is that the same bit I’d use to surface any stock with the 65mm VFD spindle?

[@carbide3d]

The 1” McFly, yes

[@paul.mcguinness6075]

I have a Shapeoko 3 and went to flatten my wasteboard. Entire surface was covered and yet it seems now to be wavy, Not stepped as in a tramming error but wavy on sections and not everywhere. I've never been pleased with this machine, The tramming was fine, so I am at another loss for this result. Continually saving for a better machine.

[@carbide3d]

If you end up with a wavy table after flattening, then you likely have some mechanical play in the machine that needs to be addressed. (Or the structure is bent, which is very unlikely, even on a 4-year-old machine)

[@paul.mcguinness6075]

@@carbide3d Yes, I agree. I went over it once again, found a few places to tighten and re trammed it. It is still a bit off, but it is what it is.

[@IceI3erg-Jeremy]

Another first!

[@EmtonGuitars]

Damn you